Forged By Fire
by I Hate Allergies
Summary: Sequel to Heartless. Finally! Sally Donovan has recovered from her trauma physically but the emotional damage is taking longer. Can she get herself in order while still performing her duties as a Sergeant at Scotland Yard? And What about the arrogant Consulting Detective?


**Well this has been a long time coming; the Sequel to Heartless. No romance in this chapter unfortunately. I just had to set up the setup everything. The crazy thing is I went through about 7 different drafts of this. The only copy of the draft before this one was on a flash drive… that I put in the pocket of my shorts… that I put in the washer. So yeah this is the radically different version of the first chapter. In the end I think losing a lot of school papers and some other fictions that wrote will make this story much better so it's somewhat worth it. Heh.**

**-IHA**

Sally, dressed in an oversized sweater, shorts and socks, sat at the dining room table in her flat, a forgotten bowl of cereal sitting in front of her. After a fretful night of sleep, she had gotten up at 4:57 am and made herself a bowl of Frosted Mini Wheats and a mug of hot chocolate. She sat, left leg bent so she could rest her chin on her knee and the other leg normal. Her left hand held a copy of _Fifty Shades of Grey_, a book her college roommate had convinced her she needed to read. She chewed on the nails of her right hand silently.

The novel, while somewhat predictable, was an excellent distraction. She was on a semi-forced vacation from work but what Greg Lestrade didn't realize was that at home was where she felt the least comfortable. She didn't feel safe there anymore. She spent her days at the library or at the park and when she was forced to be home, she would force herself to lay down for at least five hours and read the smutty novel when she couldn't distract herself from her fear in any other way.

Sally let out a yelp and it took her a second to realize what exactly had frightened her. Her house phone was ringing. She dog-eared the page and stretched quickly; hobbling along as fast as she could with aggravating her still tender foot. She glanced at the clock as she answered. It was 7:17.

"Hello?" She didn't calls this early often.

"Hello Sally? It's me Greg." He sounded tired. He knew she wasn't a morning person but this was different.

"Greg, you alright? You sound horrible."

"Well thanks Sally. I'm fine I just haven't slept yet. As soon as you went on vacation, We stumbled upon a huge case. Drugs. Someone's smuggling into Birmingham." The more details he gave her more exhausted he sounded.

"Ok I don't understand. What's that to do with me? What's that do with you?"

"The Scotland Yard is sending a small team to help with the Birmingham Police. As of now it's me and Anderson going."

"Isn't that a bit premature? You've been on the case for 4 days." This was starting to stress her out a bit she was starting to feel normal again.

"Well yeah but there have been murders. There was one an hour ago. The higher ups have approved for this to get solved sooner rather than later."

"Ok that makes sense but what's that got to do with me?" She asked, though she already had a feeling.

"Well I feel horrible for this, but I'm asking you to cut your time off short. Feel free to say no, but we could really use your help up there this weekend. Sorry again."

"No no don't be sorry. I've been itching to get back to work anyway. If I had my way I wouldn't have taken time off at all." She could have kissed her superior and good friend. Her flat was the last place she wanted to be and big case was the perfect thing to take her mind of something she probably been seeing a therapist.

"Well I'm glad, you're not pissed off. We're leaving tonight but I need you to come into the Yard as soon as possible so we can go over details. Oh, and Sally?"

"Yeah?"

"Sherlock and John are coming."

**Ok so that's the end of the first chapter. The next chapters will actually feature Sherlock so the romance will come. Review and tell me what you think please? It's so much appreciated. It really does energize me. I read all the reviews for Heartless and typed this Chapter in an hour. Love to all of my old and new readers**

**-IHA**


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